Baby, Let's Play House_ Elvis Presley and the Women Who Loved Him - Alanna Nash [336]
She went with him on tour that April, where she made a lifelong friend of Shirley Dieu. But when she landed in Florida, it was the guys who gave her the real indoctrination to life with Elvis.
“They took me aside and said, ‘There are certain rules you need to follow. First, you don’t leave Elvis alone. If he gets up in the middle of the night and goes to the bathroom, you get up with him. Then you knock on the door to see if he’s okay, and then make sure that he gets back to bed. If for some reason he doesn’t answer or something’s wrong, here’s who to call.’ ”
Like Linda, Mindi watched him constantly and refused to leave him unattended, laying her head on his chest as he slept to monitor his breathing, and “putting my hand under his nostrils to make sure there was air.” But she never saw him O.D. or abuse medication, and balked at giving him shots of anything stronger than vitamin B-12. “I took care of him, so on my watch, nothing ever happened.”
The Florida dates consisted of four nights in Jacksonville, Tampa, and Lakeland. In Jacksonville, Jackie Rowland, now all grown up and married with three children, tried frantically to get in touch with Jerry Schilling at the hotel. Ken Floyd, of the coaching staff of Memphis State, had passed along Jerry’s name. Ken told her that Elvis could use her help, that he wrestled with serious drug addiction, and that most of his hospital stays were for detoxing. Jerry was one of the few people around Elvis who tried to act in his best interest, he said.
Jackie called Jerry’s room from downstairs, but when she got no answer, she asked the desk clerk to ring the room next to it. It was Elvis’s room, but Red answered. She told him about her long association with Elvis, Vernon, and Gladys, and that she had pictures to prove it. Red made remarks she found offensive (“I told him I was a lady and that Gladys would be rolling over in her grave for his being so disrespectful”), and after that, he grew angry, saying if she wanted to see Elvis, she should have called earlier.
“You don’t need to see him anyway,” he barked. “Elvis has changed. I’m busy trying to get him ready for the show, and he’s nothing but a problem. I have to give him injections in his feet, because there isn’t any place left on him to give them.” Then he hung up, leaving Jackie sad and bewildered.
The next morning, Mindi received a reprimand as well, only from Elvis, when she turned up at the breakfast table wearing a robe, her hair up in a towel.
“Uh, honey,” he began.
“Yeah?”
“I don’t mind the towel or the robe, but next time I want you to put on some eye makeup or somethin’. You’re lookin’ a little scary.”
They both burst out laughing, and then Mindi asked, “Do I have to do it now?”
“No, honey,” he told her, “but when you’re done with breakfast, get all made up. Look real pretty.”
She understood the drill—that Elvis’s girlfriend did not smoke or drink in public, and that she looked like a proper lady at all times. But the brunette drew the line on dyeing her hair black, and when he wanted her to have cosmetic dental work (“You need bigger teeth . . . they’re tiny”), she said a model couldn’t just make drastic changes overnight.
Their relationship was healthy enough that they could openly discuss all kinds of things, including Elvis’s weight. He told her he was embarrassed about it, and worried that his fans might not still love him. Mindi assured him that they did, but she also pointed out that he had no conception of nutrition, calories, or portion sizes. When he ate a gargantuan salad and insisted, “It’s just a